CLIENT LOYALTY

For someone who has been in Advertising now for almost 12 years, I tend to be quite loyal to my client's products. I still buy Bond's and Berlei bra's over other brands and keep a keen eye on any news relating too RSVP. Since working in Saigon, I've been working on a huge beverage brand... so that one is pretty easy to stay loyal too. My other client however is a large French-Vietnamese Hospital. It's a new account for us and a product that is quite difficult to get your head around. I've done the hospital tour, read all the brochures, met the doctors, sat in the lobby... but nothing is comparable to being a patient yourself. Which, unfortunately I ended up being this last week.

A couple of weeks ago I had a pretty bad flu. After a late night meeting I got home to find I had a fever of over 39 degrees. By the next morning I was in full flu mode. A couple of days later I went and saw a Doctor at the Hospital who said it was most likely just an annual flu and got some tests done... went home and laid low. A few days later, as predicted, I was feeling better and headed back to work. More late nights and within 48 hours I was back in bed with another fever, headaches, vomit ting and the works. This time twice as bad. I headed back to the doctor for my follow up appointment... he took one look at me and admitted me to the ward. They couldn't ever quite diagnose what the problem was. Just some kind of virus/flu/infection. I was put on an IV drip, Anti-biotics and Painkillers etc. The hospital itself was great. The rooms are nice, food (not that I could eat it) looked ok and it's run very well. Unfortunately they only had a shared room available and I just couldn't stand it. Especially when the 'relatives' were going to sleep the night in the same room. I got moved to another double room with no 2nd person and that was better. On the third day, I had to share again... this time with an old lady halfway into the next life... and I lost the plot. I insisted I would be better off at home in my own lovely apartment and after much who haa with the doctors was allowed to leave.

So, now I feel fully immersed in my clients brand and product. I feel I truly understand them from a consumers point of view and some of the challenges they encounter. Although ending up in Hospital... in Vietnam... is by no means fun... it was an experience that I feel I have learned from. So it's not all bad.

The biggest lesson of all was that I really need my future Husband here with me. It was awful being alone and so sick and him not even being able to come and visit me. As his season is almost over we are in the process of trying to get him a visa to come back to VN. Not an easy task at the moment. Please say a little prayer for us when you have a moment. We need all the help we can get.

I have had another full week off work and arrived back yesterday morning to chaos. My test results are still not all clear and I am heading back to the Hospital again this afternoon to get more done. I have parked my bike for a while as I am worried about inhaling all the Saigon germy air whilst my immune system is still recovering. The next few weeks I will be keeping very quiet and attempting to get back to the strong, healthy Aussie girl who arrived here almost 1 year ago.